What Does it Take to Be a Private Cook?

Private Cook Job Description Prepare meals in private homes. Includes personal chefs.

Life As a Private Cook

• Plan and prepare food for parties, holiday meals, luncheons, special functions, and other social events.
• Create and explore new cuisines.
• Shop for or order food and kitchen supplies and equipment.
• Serve meals and snacks to employing families and their guests.
• Specialize in preparing fancy dishes or food for special diets.
• Peel, wash, trim, and cook vegetables and meats, and bake breads and pastries.

Private Cook Skills

These are the skills Private Cooks say are the most useful in their careers:

Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.

Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Management of Material Resources: Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

Related Job Titles

• Cooking Chef
• Culinary Worker
• Household Cook
• Private Chef
• Personal Chef

Job Demand for Private Cooks

In the United States, there were 25,000 jobs for Private Cook in 2016. New jobs are being produced at a rate of 5.2% which is below the national average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 1,300 new jobs for Private Cook by 2026. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 3,700 job openings in this field each year.

The states with the most job growth for Private Cook are Nevada, Oregon, and Florida. Watch out if you plan on working in Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, or North Dakota. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.

Salary for a Private Cook

The salary for Private Cooks ranges between about $25,610 and $62,600 a year.

Private Cooks who work in California, make the highest salaries.

Below is a list of the median annual salaries for Private Cooks in different U.S. states.

State	Annual Mean Salary
California	$40,080

Tools & Technologies Used by Private Cooks

Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Private Cooks may use on a daily basis:

• Web browser software
• Email software
• Intuit QuickBooks
• YouTube
• WordPress
• Work scheduling software

Becoming a Private Cook

Education needed to be a Private Cook:

What work experience do I need to become a Private Cook?

Private Cooks Sector

Below are examples of industries where Private Cooks work:

References:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
• College Factual
• O*NET Online

Image Credit: U.S. Army Europe Images via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

More about our data sources and methodologies.